Is Boeing Co. capable of making commercial aircraft at all?
It’s worth asking after an excoriating report by a U.S. congressional committee on the circumstances leading up to the fatal crashes of two 737 MAX planes. The accidents were "the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing’s management and grossly insufficient oversight” by regulators, according to the report. Pending legislation may tighten that oversight, adding to future costs.
The plane hasn’t flown in more than 18 months. Though European safety officials have finally completed testing that could help return it to service and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board signed off Thursday on proposed fixes that include pilot procedures, American Airlines Group Inc. is already seeking to defer planned deliveries.